PORTLAND, Ore. — On Wednesday, ice coated many streets and sidewalks across the Portland metro area, after freezing rain began earlier in the week. And on that day, Multnomah County reported that due to the weather, 166 people visited Emergency Departments for injuries relating to falls, marking the highest number of "slip-and-fall" visits in a single day since 2016.
Due to those record numbers, health officials urge caution until all of the ice melts away. That advice still applies Friday morning, after freezing rain and temperatures the night before left a fresh coat of ice on many areas across the region.
"As we’re going into this thaw, sometimes it looks like it is slushy on the ground but it’s actually icy," said Dr. Richard Bruno, the Health Officer for the Multnomah County Health Department. "It hasn’t quite thawed yet. So, we have a number of folks we’re trying to make sure we talk to people about going slowly, especially on sidewalks and staircases — making sure that people are holding those banisters or railings when they’re walking downstairs, taking short steps, or shuffling for stability."
Dr. Shana Kusin with OHSU told KGW that working the overnight shift in the emergency department was eerily quiet Tuesday night, but then Wednesday rolled around.
"This is a rough time to be trying to fight gravity. Gravity always wins. That’s sort of the mantra of this time of year, when we have ice storms like this," she said. "But it is so slippery out there and people are just falling left and right."
One of the most common injuries: broken bones, specifically wrists, ankles, and hips. On Friday morning, Portland Fire & Rescue said a firefighter battling a fire in the East St. Johns neighborhood slipped on an icy slope while stretching hose up toward the fire and suffered an injury, possibly a broken leg. The firefighter had to be taken to the hospital.
"The thing that is easy to forget about ice is that it is just so fast to go down, and it's never when you think you're going to," Kusin said. "You hit these patches and then you slide."
KGW viewers sent in several videos of falls: in driveways, or on front steps, or on slippery sidewalks.
One of the falls — or slides — went viral. In the video, a woman kneels down to slide down the sidewalk, when she realized she wouldn't make it down by walking.
On Thursday, KGW caught up with her and the woman who captured it on her camera phone.
"I work at a hospital and I had just finished up my sixth shift overnight in a row," said Joy McNamara. "I was going to get home or die trying. I ended up getting an Uber and I knew that he was not going to make it down the hill. But he was able to drop me off here at the top of the hill. I was like, 'well, I am this far, and I’m going to slide.' And that’s what I did."
"I was working in my office, and my dog started barking, and I walked over to the living room window and I looked out," said Virginia La Forte. "I saw Joy, my new friend, Joy, standing — you were still standing on the corner — and I thought, 'oh, God, don't do it.' And she goes to her knees and then I got out my phone."
Although La Forte didn't post the clip to social media, she shared it with a few friends, and in no time it went viral. Even McNamara saw it.
"I was perusing Reddit before bed and I was like, 'oh, wait, that's me,'" she said.
The two, who live just houses away, connected, and can laugh about what happened, knowing this could have been worse given the sheet of ice still coating the neighborhood.
McNamara explained what happened after the camera stopped rolling.
"I landed right at the bottom of my house, and crawled to the steps and I death gripped the iron rails going up to the door," she said. "And my roommates were like, 'what happened?' I explained what happened and we were laughing. They had cleats and one of them said, 'oh my gosh, somebody’s Ring camera has got to have gotten that.'"
"I’m glad that I can laugh about it now," said La Forte to McNamara Thursday night. "Because I felt real bad not being able to come back down and help you, but I couldn’t get down my stairs!"